Boy, 14, says he regrets slaying

Leniency sought in teacher's death

July 27, 2001|By Dana Canedy, New York Times News Service.

MIAMI — A 14-year-old boy facing 25 years to life for murder told a judge and the victim's family Thursday that he never intended to shoot his favorite teacher between the eyes and was sorry for the killing.

"Words cannot really express how sorry I am, but they're all I have," Nathaniel Brazill said, reading from a statement at a sentencing hearing in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. He called his victim, Barry Grunow, 35, a great man and a great teacher.

"As I look back on that day, I wish it had not happened and that I could bring Mr. Grunow back," said Brazill, shackled and wearing an orange prison uniform. "Regardless of what anyone thinks, I never intended to harm Mr. Grunow," he said, referring to his much-analyzed stoic demeanor during the trial.

In May a jury convicted Brazill of second-degree murder for shooting Grunow after the teacher refused to let him into his classroom to say goodbye for the summer to two girls on the last day of school a year ago. But the jury did not convict him of the most severe charge he faced, first-degree murder, sparing him a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Most of Grunow's family and friends asked the judge to sentence Brazill to the harshest possible penalty he faces, life in prison. But the teacher's widow, Pam Grunow, said she could not recommend a sentence.

"I don't know what price Nathaniel should pay for taking Barry's life," she told the judge. "That's not my job, I don't have the wisdom."

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Richard Wennet said he would announce the sentence Friday.

Different interpretations

The prosecution and defense painted two pictures of the boy, one of a cold-blooded killer and the other of a troubled teen whose family and school missed warning signs of problems.

"This defendant's demeanor sends chills up my spine," said the prosecutor, Marc Shiner. He asked the judge to sentence Brazill to life in prison and, barring that, to 40 years followed by lifetime probation.

Shiner said Brazill's age alone did not warrant leniency and that his demeanor during the trial was proof of his lack of remorse.

The defense said the judge should not read anything into Brazill's demeanor because the boy was simply accustomed to holding in his emotions, whether about the physical abuse he witnessed between his mother and two stepfathers or her diagnosis of breast cancer the month he turned 13.

"He's a child and that's who committed this crime," Robert Udell, Brazill's attorney, said before asking the judge to sentence him to 25 years in prison.

In the most emotional testimony of the day, Brazill's mother, Polly Powell, said she could not explain her son's actions but prayed that, in time, he would be forgiven.

"I don't know what happened to my baby," she said, adding that, if her personal problems contributed to his actions, "I take full responsibility."

She pleaded between sobs for the judge to be lenient, saying: "I just ask you that you please have mercy on him."

Brazill, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, is the second 14-year-old in South Florida this year to be tried as an adult for first-degree murder.

The first, Lionel Tate, was convicted of first-degree murder in January and sentenced to life for beating a 6-year-old playmate to death.

Tate was 12 when he killed Tiffany Eunick in what his attorney said was an accident that occurred while he was imitating professional wrestling moves. He is serving his sentence while awaiting appeals after Gov. Jeb Bush denied his request for an early clemency hearing last month.

Cases stir debate

The Brazill and Tate cases have prompted debate about trying young offenders as adults, with critics demanding that Florida re-evaluate its juvenile-justice laws. In May, state Sen. Walter Campbell, a Democrat, called for changing the way Florida handles young violent offenders. The human-rights organization Amnesty International also has urged an overhaul of Florida's policies.

During the hearing, Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies testified that out of sight of the jury during the trial, Brazill was not the silent and solemn young man he appeared to be in court. They testified that, in his holding cell between court appearances, he joked about shooting jurors and was generally unruly.

But a psychologist who testified for the defense said the boy's actions likely reflected a false bravado and his age.

James Gabarino, a child psychologist from Cornell University, also testified that Grunow's shooting was the act of a child dealing with overwhelming problems.

He said that, coupled with problems at home, Brazill's suspension and perceived rejection by Grunow in not allowing him to speak with a girl on whom he had a crush caused the boy such distress that the victim "may not have mattered."